Fuhgeddaboudit Food: J & V Pizzeria

<p>Customers of&nbsp;J &amp; V Pizzeria in Brooklyn say the food has remained the same for nearly seven decades.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

News 12 Staff

Nov 14, 2017, 1:53 PM

Updated 2,363 days ago

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Customers of J & V Pizzeria in Brooklyn say the food has remained the same for nearly seven decades. 
The neighborhood has changed over the years on 18th Avenue in  Bensonhurst, but the restaurant has stood the test of time.
Thomas Polopoli has been a regular customer since he was about 10 years old.
Back then, he would come in every Saturday with his dad. "Right around noon time we'd have a slice, a soda, and it almost became a ritual," Polopoli says. A ritual he's passed onto his own kids.
What used to be a heavily influenced Italian neighborhood is now populated by other ethnicities, but the pizzeria has remained a staple.
"Forty years later, it's what you remember. It's incredible. There aren't many things left like that in this world. Let alone in the neighborhood. Forget about the entire world," Polopoli says.
Longevity both customers and the owner say boils down to the food. Tasty, no-non-sense pizzas, rolls and something they dub the Jo-Jo—a heap of meat, cheese, and sauce sandwiched in between two pieces of garlic bread.
"We use fresh tomatoes. We use the best quality cheese, the flour is still the same flour we use and also the oven too. We have a rotating oven," owner John Mortillaro says.  
And at a time when pricey, artisanal pizzas get all the buzz, J & V is anything but.
"It's the only way to go for us. You know? Why change?” Mortillaro says.   


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